


I Love You More

by BaefongFamily



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-13 20:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3395819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaefongFamily/pseuds/BaefongFamily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a Weilin high school AU based on a fanart I've been requested to do a while ago. When all the chapters are completed I'll work on a better summary :P. I still don't have a schedule for posting chapters, but the gap between uploads won't be longer than a week. I'd appreciate if you could give some feedback, so I know how the story should flow or if there's anything I should change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. His Name

There were only three more students left before him. One of the worst parts of starting another school year is that the new teachers made you present yourself. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but for someone like Bolin it was. His breathing was starting to become uneven and his hands were sweaty. All the situations that could happen crossed his mind, except the one where everything went normally; without stutters or misspellings. The teacher moved on to the guy in front of him. He was a new student; at least Bolin had never seen him before.

“What’s your name?” asked Mr. Tsai.

“Wei Beifong.” the boy replied.

 _Beifong?_ The name seemed familiar to Bolin. Of course it did. That was the name of his brother’s chief, Lin Beifong. The Beifong family was also one of the richest in Republic City. They were responsible for the great part of the metallurgic industries, all thanks to Toph Beifong. He was probably her grandson or something. What was he doing in this school anyway? It wasn’t exactly the best around! Bolin was getting lost in his thoughts when someone shook his shoulder.

“Bolin!” called the girl behind him.

Everyone was looking at him, including the teacher.

“I asked what your name was.” he said.

Bolin was caught off guard; his previous nightmares came true and were even worse than he had imagined. He was so embarrassed he could feel the blood reddening his face. In all his clumsiness, he could only sputter his name and look right back at the table. The teacher didn’t seem to care that much and kept going.

For the rest of the class, Bolin couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. Everybody must have thought he was weird. If there was one thing that he disliked more than anything it was being in other people’s thoughts for the wrong reasons.

Mr. Tsai was already explaining what they would be talking about trough out the year when the bell rang. As usual, Bolin picked his things slowly to avoid the rushing wave of students leaving the classroom. He wasn’t always like this. He actually acted in a more relaxed way when he was with someone he knew could take his awkwardness without judging.  Noticing forced smiles in other people faces was what made him so self-conscious.

* * *

 

Next up, was Gym Class. The students were divided based on whether they were a bender or not and on the element they could bend. Bolin was an earthbender so his class was outside. Sometimes he wished he was a mere non-bender so he could just play Kuai Ball or other “lighter” sport inside, instead of being hit by rocks. To make it worse, the earthbending coach was a strict and merciless man. He didn’t want to hear about your headache or scraped knee. If you twisted your ankle, it was your problem. The class wouldn’t stop because of that.

“Arrange in pairs and grab a rock disc to start warm up” ordered Mr. Guan.

Great! Could there be a better way to assure that someone was the weird guy than being left out in a situation like this? Especially since none of Bolin’s few friends were earthbenders. At least it meant that there was a chance for him to skip that class. He started slowly walking to the side in hopes that no one would notice him.

“Bolin, are you alone?” asked the coach.

“Yeah, but it’s fine. I can just…”

“No one rests in my classes. You’ll spar with me.”

Bolin froze with the idea. _Why didn’t_ _I just tell Mako I was sick and couldn’t come to school today?_ thought Bolin. Well, considering how brute the teacher was, there might actually be a broken bone or something that could make that reality come true for at least a week.

“Throw the plate back and forward at a steady rhythm. Every time you hear the whistle, increase the speed” explained Mr. Guan, while preparing to throw the disc at Bolin. He covered his face to avoid any major impact. He had his eyes closed when someone spoke.

“Sorry, I’m late coach. I had to talk with the principal.” It was Wei. He was a little out of breath.

“Saved by the bell!” said the coach while glaring at Bolin. The earthbender gulped. “You two pair up and get started already!”

Bolin wasn’t a bad earthbender. Mako trained with him a lot and he had actually developed a quite effective technique on his own. It was the pressure of having others looking at him that made his moves clumsy. On the other hand, Wei seemed like a great athlete. At least his body made him look like so.

The Beifong threw the disc first. Bolin made it orbit around himself and sent it back flying. Wei seemed impressed and smiled at him, which made Bolin blush a little. He became more relaxed, now that it appeared as his opponent was actually nicer than he thought. Despite that, the whistle sounded when the plate was once again in Bolin’s possession, causing him to send it a little stronger than he intended. Wei had to duck so he didn’t catch it with his face.

“Nice one!” said the metalbender while laughing a little nervously. He then proceeded to grab another disc. Bolin felt relieved that he hadn’t hit him. “Ready?”

Bolin nodded with a little smirk on his face. They restarted the activity, this time more focused. The earthbender was feeling more and more at ease with his partner and even played a few tricks. That’s when he feels something hitting him painfully hard. From the other side of the field, someone had missed a catch and threw the earth disc right in the direction of Bolin’s forehead. He fell to the ground, watching everything spinning around him. Wei called the coach hoping he would help, but the only response he got was a “What do you want me to do? Take him to the infirmary or something.” The Beifong rolled his eyes and helped Bolin get up. There was a little bit of blood dripping from his eyebrow.

* * *

 

While taking care of Bolin, the nurse kept complaining about the coach.

“The year just started and he already sent someone to the infirmary! That man is so obnoxious!” Hearing this, Wei couldn’t help but to let out a small giggle, since that’s exactly the impression he had gotten from Mr. Guan. The nurse kept going; “Every week there’s someone with a twisted wrist or a black eye… Am I hurting you honey?” Bolin shook his head slowly while she cleaned the cut on his eyebrow. She then proceeded to apply some healing water on the side the disc had hit him. “Hold this where it hurts, ok?” instructed the healer, giving the earthbender a bag of ice. “I need to go take care of something, I’ll be back soon. Look out for him.” she asked Wei.

“Does it hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“You’ve got some killer skills!”

Bolin reddened at the compliment. No one had said something like that to him before, except for Mako.

“You should come train with me and my brother someday.”

“You have a brother?” The question came naturally from Bolin’s mouth. That’s not the typical reaction coming from him, but he felt comfortable talking to Wei.

“I have three brothers actually. And a sister. But I was talking about Wing, my twin”

“Twin? Why isn’t he at our school?”

“We’ve always been homeschooled. My mom said it would be better for us to be in different schools for at least one year. That way we wouldn’t be too dependent of each other.”

“I see.”   

“Do you have brothers?”

“One. His name’s Mako. He’s a cop”

“Really? He must know my aunt Lin, then.”

“She’s his chief.”

The nurse came back and examined Bolin. “It doesn’t seem too bad. I guess you can go. Take the bag with you if you want.”

“Thank you.” 

* * *

 

The next day, Bolin was already at the school’s gate when someone called his name. He turned back to see Wei waving at him at the end of the street. Bolin waved back and waited for him to catch up.

“How’s your head?”

“It started hurting a little last night, but I’m fine today.”

“So that means you can train, right?”

“Train?”

“Yeah! I was being serious yesterday. Are you free after school?”

“My brother and I have some friends over for dinner tonight so I need to start making some dishes before he arrives.”

“What about tomorrow?”

Bolin was skeptical about that. He wasn’t used to receive this kind of invitations, but he wasn’t able to find an excuse to say no.

“Ok.”

“Perfect!”

They arrived at the classroom just as the bell rang. Mr. Tsai waited for everyone to be there and started the class.

“Today you’ll be beginning a group work. Arrange in groups of two or three and pick one of the themes written on the board. If you have any questions feel free to ask.”

Wei looked right back and raised his eyebrows with a smile. Bolin nodded right away, understanding what he meant. This was probably the first time someone asked to work with him simply because they were friends and not because he was the smart one.

The themes on the board were all pretty boring. It was History Class after all. They discussed for a while and ended choosing Architecture of Republic City, since Wei’s father was an architect and could give them some help on the subject. They opened the book but, no matter how hard they looked, they couldn’t find anything that seemed relevant. Wei looked around and noticed most of the groups were just chatting. A girl by the corner was painting her nails and some guys were making paper planes. The teacher wasn’t paying attention either - he was just reading a newspaper - so Wei decided to start conversation with Bolin.

“So…which one is your girlfriend?”

“None of them…” answered Bolin looking down.

“Really? I don’t believe it, you’re so handsome.”

Bolin knew Wei was just teasing him, but that compliment made him blush anyway. _Maybe I don’t want a girlfriend_ he replied in his mind. Bolin reprimanded himself for these spontaneous thoughts. He only knew Wei for a day and was most likely just confusing things. He probably just liked the way he treated him; at least that’s what Bolin was trying to convince himself of. But that wasn’t the truth. Wei wasn’t at all insignificant for him. His green eyes, his olive skin, his honest smile, his muscles… Bolin was falling for him. What a disaster!

Wei noticed Bolin was getting distracted. He touched his hand, in order to bring him back to reality. Bolin got a little startled and quickly retrieved it. He then tried to cover his embarrassment by talking about the work.

“Umm…sho…should we ask the teacher to go to the school library? There must be something there”

“Yes, it might be better. There’s nothing pertinent here.”

The teacher let them go with a hand gesture, while his eyes were still glued to the newspaper. Everyone was in class so, besides the librarian, there was no one else at the library. They looked for the History and Geography section. Most of the books in there had a thick coat of dust on the spines. Bolin rubbed down a huge encyclopedia– it was about the Fire Nation. Wei opened a book about Avatar Kyoshi on a random page. There was a portrait a Chin the Conqueror on it.

“Bolin, look!” Wei was mimicking the warlord’s face, which made Bolin snort. The earthbender decided to play along and imitated Sozin’s mean look. They kept going for a while until their laughs were so loud the librarian silenced them. They tried covering their mouths but some chuckles still managed to get out. Bolin was wiping the tears of his eyes when he noticed Wei staring at him with a kind smile.

“What a great smile! You should definitely show it more.” commented the metalbender.

“Nah, people think it’s awkward.”

“That’s nonsense! Your true friends will always appreciate your smile.”

Bolin’s eyes lit up. Wei was too perfect to be true. He only knew him for so little time and he was already so kind to him.

“Well, the teacher must be wondering what’s taking us so long.” said Bolin.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t count on that, but let’s take some books and leave before that lady kills us with that stare.”

“She’s always so stressed. There isn’t even anyone here besides us!”

They took some random books just to look productive and went back to the classroom.  Everyone was in the same situation as before.

* * *

 

Later that day, Bolin was at his and his brother’s apartment. It wouldn’t be long until Mako was home from work, so he decided to start cooking. Korra and Asami would be over for dinner and there was a lot to be done. Bolin had spent the last two summers working at Narrok’s Seaweed Noddlery, so he picked some tricks with the knife. Bolin noticed Pabu scratching the front door. He always did that when someone was arriving. Soon Mako was entering home.

“Hey Bo!” he said, giving a friendly punch on Bolin’s shoulder. The earthbender returned the gesture with increased intensity. “Hey, calm down tigerdillo!” It was little painful, making Mako rub his shoulder for a while.

“How was your day?”

“You know, just the usual boring classes.”

“Thank Raava I’m finished with that already.”

“When will Korra and Asami be here?”

“They said around eight. Need help with something?”

“Better not. We don’t want to poison our guests, do we?”

“Someone’s funny today! Are you sure nothing happened?” Mako raised his left eyebrow, throwing a teasing look at his brother.

“I already said so.”

That obviously wasn’t true. The interaction with Wei was working wonders on Bolin’s mood. He found himself thinking about the Beifong out of nowhere every five minutes and smiling like a fool.  He was starting to become more and more convinced about what his feelings towards him were. Bolin didn’t mind it.


	2. Skyscrapers

After Ms. Norbu delivered the homework for that day, Bolin and Wei headed to the latter’s house. The Beifong lived in a condo, in the rich part of Republic City. It was still a little far from their school, and since Wei’s oldest brother, Baatar, couldn’t give them a ride, they decided to take a shortcut. After walking through some alleys, they arrived at a tall wall that they had to climb in order to get to the other side. Wei linked his fingers together and offered to help Bolin go first. When the earthbender was already on the other side he only had time to look up, before Wei lost his balance and fell in his arms.

“Nice catch!” exclaimed the metalbender breathing heavily. As he said this he gently patted Bolin’s face, making him blush. He got back on his feet and continued guiding Bolin, who was rubbing his face in awe.

When they arrived at the condo, Bolin couldn’t believe his eyes. There was an enormous entering hall, filled with metal sculptures and paintings.

"My brother Huan made most of these. This one’s my favorite.” said Wei while pointing at a sculpture right by the door.

“It’s a…banana?”

“Yeah, it looks like a banana, doesn’t it?” replied Wei, letting his laugh spread through the room. “Don’t let him hear you say that, though! He says it’s some sort of spiritual thing or whatever…”

They got on the elevator. They needed to go to the first floor so Wei could grab his equipment. Once again, Bolin was mesmerized. The furniture looked so expensive. There was no comparison possible between that and his brother’s apartment. He waited in the living room until Wei showed up holding a sports bag.

His gym was huge. There were all kinds of weight lifting machines and other equipment. Wing was already there, wrapping some bandages around his hands. Bolin was amazed. They were exactly the same. The same eyes, the same nose, they seemed flawless copies. If they didn’t have different hairstyles, Bolin would probably misidentify them after a while.

“It was about time!”Wei and Wing performed a quite complex handshake. They seemed to be in perfect tune with each other.

Wei and Wing performed a quite complex handshake. They seemed to be in perfect tune with each other.

“So this is the famous Bolin! I’m dying to check your skills!”

_Famous?_ Had Wei talked that much about him that it would make Wing address him this way?

“Come Bolin, we need to get ready.”

Wei guided Bolin through a door on the left. It led to a small locker room.

“Do you have everything? I can lend you anything you need.”

“No, I brought everything.”

As Bolin said this, Wei gave a little nod and started undressing. The earthbender wasn’t expecting this and quickly looked away, but not for too long. Soon his eyes were locked on the Beifong’s body. It was beautiful; the pectorals, his abdomen, all the muscles were carved perfectly. Then he took off his pants. Bolin could feel the sweat on his forehead, as the heat was taking over him.

“Hurry up! Wing can get quite impatient.”

Bolin felt so embarrassed. Had Wei noticed his gaze? The earthbender tried to play it cool and started getting dressed too. When they were both ready, they went back to the gym. There was a girl talking to Wing, who Bolin assumed was their sister, Opal.

“Bolin, this is our sister, Opal” presented Wei.

“Hi! It’s nice to meet you!” Bolin smiled and bent down a little. Soon she left and they were ready to start training. The material they had to work with was much more sophisticated than the one at school. There were also lots of metal cables and other metalbending props. Bolin hadn’t thought of it yet, but being Beifongs, it would make sense that they were able to bend metal as well.

“So, how good are your metalbending skills?” Wing asked while holding a bunch of wires.

“About as good as the airbending ones.”

Wei laughed. “If you want we can teach you. We’re experts you know?” He was flexing his right arm with a cocky look on his face.         

“Maybe next time. I don’t want to interrupt your routine.”

“Alright, let’s get started then!”

Training with twins as much more relaxing than training in Gym Class. There was no one to criticize and most of all; his grades didn’t depend on how well he did. Bolin managed to pick up some new moves and he even got to learn how to defend himself from metalbending attacks.

Through the windows of the gym, Bolin noticed the sun was starting to set. He had to leave soon if he wanted to get home before nightfall. He packed his bag, said goodbye to the twins and started moving. Just as he was out of the gym he heard Wing laughing. He picked behind the wall to see what could be that funny. The only thing he saw was what appeared to be Wing making fun of Wei. At least that’s what he read from the latter’s annoyed expression. _Did he say something about me?_ Bolin’s self-conscious attitude made him wonder if people laughing meant they were making fun of him. He quickly brushed the thought off his mind and left the building.

 

* * *

 

It took several hours for Bolin to fall asleep that night. His mind was flooded with thoughts of Wei. Having his hand on his face when he caught him and seeing his bare body for the first time left a warm feeling inside him that still lingered to that moment. Even during the training Bolin found it hard to take his eyes off him. His movements were so elegant; he seemed so stoic and concentrated. It was now obvious for Bolin that there was no turning back; he was in love with Wei. He didn’t know exactly how to deal with it. Besides a little friend crush he had on Korra, he had never felt anything of this kind for anyone. He found himself talking to Pabu, which was already sleeping.

“You should have seen him. Wing looks exactly like him, but Wei is so much more beautiful. And I think he likes me too. Don’t you? I think he does… That’s it! I’m gonna tell him tomorrow. I’m gonna tell him exactly how I feel about him. Tomorrow! We’re gonna kiss and live happily ever after…”

Bolin was starting to get dreamy. Even he could sense the awkwardness in his speech. Pabu remained deep asleep.

“I’m sorry buddy. I’ll let you sleep now.”

Bolin turned to the side and fell asleep with a wide smile on his face.

 

The next morning, Bolin felt more confident than ever. He was running late so he just grabbed an apple from the kitchen table and said goodbye to Mako. Bolin was humming a little song that triggered his brother’s curiosity. Mako still raised his finger to ask him the reason for such happiness, but he was already out the door.

Unfortunately, Bolin’s joy fell shattered in front of him when he got to the classroom. What he saw in front of him destroyed all his hope. Wei was sitting in his chair, resting his head on his hand. In front of him was Meili, a girl from their class. She was curling her hair on her index finger and seemed to be flirting with him. Even worse! Wei seemed to like it. At least he looked rather pleased. Bolin passed beside them, avoiding eye contact.

“Hey Bolin!” said Wei happily.

Bolin only managed to let out a cold “Hi”. Wei was surprised by his reaction. He was about to ask if something was wrong when Ms. Norbu entered the room. During the class, Bolin would look away every time Wei tried to talk to him. He was leaving him very confused. He didn’t understand the reason for this apathy.

The rest of the day went by and Bolin did everything he could to avoid Wei. He hid in the bathroom between classes and at lunchtime, he pretended not to hear Wei’s invitation to sit next to him. He felt betrayed. _You’re so stupid. You got carried away by your stupid dreams. Of course, he doesn’t like you. He probably just pities your insignificance_. These kinds of thoughts haunted Bolin every minute. He kept pushing himself down.

 

* * *

           

When Bolin got home he locked himself in his room. He tried to distract himself from Wei by studying, but he just couldn’t concentrate. He was so uplifted just this morning. He really thought that by the end of the day he and the Beifong would be together, hugging; holding hands, anything. Wei and Meili came to his mind once again. That thought angered him so much that he broke the tip of his pencil scribbling while a tear rolled down his cheek. The bell rang as he was reaching for the pencil sharpener. It was too early for Mako to be home, which made Bolin wonder who it could be.

He opened the door to find Wei standing outside. He felt the urge to close the door, but couldn’t do it.

“How did you know where I live?”

“I asked my aunt where your brother lived. I assumed you would be here too.”

Bolin looked at Wei with a serious look, waiting to hear what had brought him to his house.

“Listen, I don’t know what I did to leave you like this. You avoided me all day and I’d like to know what happened.”

“It’s nothing. You’re just imagining things.” They both knew this was a lie. Wei still wanted to know the reason for Bolin’s indifference, but he figured that pushing him would only make it worse. He then decided to change the topic.

“Alright then. So… I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to…”

“Where?”

“Oh, it’s just a place I go often. I’d like to show it to you.”

Bolin was still too angry to go anywhere, especially with Wei, but once again he couldn’t say no to his suggestion. He left a note for Mako on the kitchen counter, advising him that he would probably be home late.

 

After walking for while they arrived at a skyscraper, next to the Future Industries’ business building. Bolin was getting unsure of why Wei has asked him to come with him. The metalbender gave him a hand gesture, indicating him to follow up the stairs.

“Can we be here?”

“This building belongs to my family. Of course we can.”

There were hundreds of steps ahead of them. When they finally reached the top of the building, Bolin was exhausted, with his hands on his knees. Wei was already sitting on a concrete block, near the ledge. After catching his breath, Bolin went sitting next to him.  

The dim sunlight tainted their faces with vivid pink tones. Bolin was still wondering why Wei would bring him to this place. He looked at him to find his eyes locked on Republic City’s skyline. He seemed really serious and thoughtful, as if he was preparing for something important. They remained silent until the metalbender spoke.

“What do you think?”

“It’s nice. A little too high for my liking though.”

“It’s the perfect place to confess your love for someone”

“You should bring Meili here then…”

Wei looked at Bolin a little confused. Why would he think that he liked Meili? Then it hit him. He had seen them talking in the classroom that morning. She was being a little flirtatious, but apart from that, there was no reason to think they were anything above friends. Bolin didn’t dare to look at Wei. His face was almost buried in his arms.

“I don’t love her.”

“You seemed really fond of each other today.”

“So what? I have my heart set on someone else.”

“Really? Who?”

“You.”

Wei didn’t even give time for Bolin to react. He leaned forward and kissed the earthbender’s lips. Bolin remained still, with his eyes wide open, in shock from what was happening. Wei pulled away and smiled at him.

“But…” started Bolin.

“I love you Bolin. You’re the sweetest person one could ever meet. I understand if you don’t feel the same way, but I needed to get this off my chest.”

Bolin still couldn’t believe. The person he loved had just confessed to him with such ease. His hands were shaking and he could feel his eyes starting to water. The lack of response from his side made Wei look down.

“Well, we should go. It’s getting late.” The metalbender rose up, triggering Bolin’s reaction.

“Wait!” Stunned, Wei turned to meet the earthbender’s eyes. “I love you too!” As he was saying this, Bolin got up and walked towards the metalbender. A rush of confidence flooded his body as he pulled him by the waist to kiss him. This time the kiss came from both of them. Wei wrapped his arms around Bolin with a tender strength, making him feel in heaven. None of them wanted to pull away. Their lips seemed to have been made to be together; they linked perfectly. When they finally separated, their foreheads touched.

“I love you more!” Bolin whispered.


End file.
